Eight years sober with the help of SMART

I didn't know then how to get started toward a sober life, but the online resources and public meetings of SMART gave me the support I needed to deal with my abuse of alcohol. My wife had left me and my children were angry with me or had abandoned me also. It was a process, sometimes painful in an emotional way, for me to use the SMART recovery tools and to learn to be sober. My children now love and respect me and my wife returned after five years living in another state. I no longer face the drama in my life that I knew so well when I was drinking every day. I would rather have someone end my life than go back to the situation I was living in eight years ago. If you are looking for encouragement for your own situation, I hope that these words will help you. A sober life is a better life.

I hope and pray that you can go on beyond day 1 to day 2 and then to day 3...Use the support here to express your feelings and focus all your energy on making a change in your life. I found, at first, that I had to make sobriety my #1 goal. It had to be the most important thing in my life in order to accomplish the change I wanted to make. Then, over time, it faded from #1. Sober was my new way of life. I am comfortable now telling anyone who asks me that "I don't drink." And that is the truth. Business acquaintances have asked me, "Why?" I just tell them that it is a personal choice. Most people, whether drinkers or non-drinkers, simply don't care what I choose to drink. Cranberry and tonic, in a tall glass, with a couple pieces of lime is my favorite. It makes it easy to join the crowd at a social event. Many times during the past eight years, I have been offered a drink. "I don't drink" is my simple answer. A sober life is a better life.

To all who are reading here and looking to change your abuse of alcohol:

You can do it. You can use the tools at SMART Recovery, the online support, the online or in-person meetings, and your own goal setting to do it. I wish I could be more help in describing the difference sobriety has made in my life. I have described the positive changes that I have enjoyed over the most recent years. I have personally known others that have made sobriety their own story.

You can do it. Believe in yourself. Say this to yourself every day, "A sober life is a better life." Shout it out loud, tell someone you love, wear it on a T-shirt, paste a note to the mirror, or put a note in your wallet.